17 November 2011

So, some background. This will be our 5th Christmas down under, and I think I'm finally getting used to it not being winter! Just. But because its not cold and cosy, Christmas decorations that are warm and cosy don't really work, so we're learning about new ways to decorate that reflect the different style of Christmas.

This is also our first Christmas in the new house, which is quite exciting!

Our decorations have been a rich mix of red and purple so far, but this year we've decided to go for a fresh new look, in blue, with pink and purple.

I'd been eyeing up all the pretty Christmas fabrics in store, and while most of them were red and silver and green and generally didn't fit in with our plans, I kept seeing this very cute blue bird fabric, and when it had 20% off, I decided to get a metre and think of something to do with it! I figured it would lend itself well to some seasonal throw cushion covers, to add a subtle Christmas hint to our sofa.

Make your own!
You will need cushion insert, fabric, and optionally also a button, sewing machine with buttonhole foot, plus thread and pins etc.

1

Cut fabric to fit. My inserts were 50cm, and my fabric was 1m by 112cm wide, so I cut it in half, to make two strips 50x112cm. Longer would be better, or smaller inserts, but thats what I had, so thats what I worked with!

2

Hem (at least one) one short edge. These will become the opening for the insert. I didn't have much length to play with so I kept it to just one, as the other won't be seen.

3

Fold and pin. You want to end up with a square roughly the same size as your insert. Fold so the right sides are facing with the hemmed edge on the inner layer if you only did one. My flaps were roughly 40cm and 20cm in from either edge:

4

Pin and sew the edges closed. Sew straight across the top, making sure you capture both layers of flap. Its a good idea to re-enforce the opening by re-sewing the segments where the flaps meet.

5

Turn the right way around and in theory you're done!

But at this point mine looked like this, because I didn't really have enough length for the plumpness of my insert:

So I decided to keep it a bit more contained with a button.

6

Decide which button you want to use and mark it onto the material with tailors chalk.

7

Attach your buttonhole foot, and measure the length of hole you need to make. Set the foot onto your material so that the front is just beyond where you want the button to sit. Sew across the top, sides and base.

8
Pit a pin at one end of the button-hole to be, then use a stitch ripper to open up the hole. The pin stops you from going to far.